Niklas Swanström in SvD on South Korea’s growing arms exports against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine
March 21, 2023: Niklas Swanström, ISDP’s Executive Director, was interviewed by Svenska Dagbladet on South Korea’s growing arms exports against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
“Putin has directly warned South Korea: if they send weapons to Ukraine, Russia will increase military cooperation with North Korea. This is Russia’s way of influencing and trying to prevent South Korean weapons from reaching and strengthening Ukraine,” said Niklas Swanström.
NATO and the U.S. are putting strong pressure on South Korea to take a stand and sell weapons to Ukraine, said Niklas Swanström.
“This is a very difficult balancing act for South Korea. It wants to show support and loyalty to its allies, but at the same time, it does not want to drive Russia into the arms of its feared enemy North Korea.”